Analysis of Abundance

Pink’s punnish humor (that’s a pun in itself when you pronounce it.) coupled with his relatable anecdotes establish a sort of trust between him and the audience which ultimately leads said audience to consider his argument stating that Americans own abundance of objects has not increased their happiness, leading them to seek meaning and value in life through intangible methods and concepts. When Pink says, “one last- and illuminating- statistic,” (p. 33) he allows a useful facet of his writing style to shine through; his laid-back appeal. He is making a pun, considering the statistic is about candles. Honestly, take out the humor in this piece and what is left? Nothing but boring statistics and dry arguments. His humor, no matter how unattractive to me, makes this piece more readable be a factor of one-thousand. Moreover, many readers will find this far more hilarious than I and continue to scour his work for as many puns as possible. Aside from keeping the reader attentive, this also makes the writer seem more human, and far more likable, which in turn conjures a fair amount of trust from the reader. But on another note, not only is this guy funny, but he also is a family man. To tell the truth, when I think successful writer, I imagine a person with loads of money that do not spend near as much time with their family as they should. However, this man seems to be different, for he even mentions taking a “back-to-school shopping excursion” (p.31) with his wife and three kids. By saying this he not only provides a great example for his point, but he also establishes that he too is an ordinary man. He is not a high-and-mighty scientist or a corrupt politician, but a normal man that goes shopping (when absolutely necessary) with his wife and kids. In doing so, he again appeals to ethos by establishing he is just an honest person with a family, like many of his readers. Moreover, he is decent enough to go CLOTHES SHOPPING with HIS WIFE! Wow, that takes a bit of courage… and/or a very fat wallet. All joking aside, in doing so he uses plain-folks appeal, further evoking trust from the audience. After reading this excerpt from Pink’s A Whole New Mind I must say, Pink appears to be quite a joker as well as quite a decent fellow, furthering his credibility and causing many readers to trust him and his argument quite a bit more.